When the computers would go down at my old office - we would sometimes have chair races. But nothing like this. Frankly - working in an office - this looks like a lot of fun. But knowing my clutz-ish behavior - I would end up amputating some body part trying to get to the finish line. :lol:

My office does not have room for chair races.

We get some good spins going, though.

Couldn't find anything that on this particular event, however I did run into this web site

http://www.officeolympics.net/

Caption from this temporary link:

Funny picture. I like it. The guy looks so intense.

I don't think the technical skill of the photographer is really anything too special. If there were 64 participants, then the photographer could set up shop at this one jump and have 64 tries to get a good shot. It's a bright, sunny day, so the aperature of the camera can be closed down pretty small, creating a large depth of field. The photographer can pre-focus on the center of the ramp, and still have much of the foreground and background still in focus to allow for the different paths the racers will follow. The participants are not going all that fast compared to a car race, so the shutter speed can be a little longer to create a sense of motion blur. Maybe a 60th of a second or a 30th of a second or so. The previously mentioned small aperature will allow such a relatively long exposure. As each racer goes over the jump, the photographer can hand hold the camera and pan with the motion. That keeps the racer relatively crisp, and blurs the background. Panning isn't so hard. You can't get a good shot every time when you pan the action, but with 64 tries, you will have several that will come out well.

I don't mean to say that the photographer has no talent. It's easy for me to sit here and figure out how the picture was taken. Quite another thing to set up the shot in the first place.

Either that or he's already gone off one jump and the gas lifter under the seat is about 3 inches up his butt... :eek:

Weird bit is I work for Staples ... we sell these chairs and I sure as heck wouldn't want to be putting those caster through that kind of torture. Can you say Pavement Rash boys and girls?

That's all part of the fun.

Haven't you ever cheered for the inevitable wheelchair pileup at the turn at the downhill at the start of the Boston Marathon?

No...

But I do have to admit that I only watch NASCAR for the crashes ... I mean, come on ... does anybody really want to watch 33 rednecks drive real fast in a circle?

3.3 million other rednecks?

The only reason I watch any sport is to see someone bust their ass.
Well almost.
I like to see them bust each others asses too.

well.....I do.....and actually the top 43 cars qualify for race day......and not all the tracks they race on are circles .....(I could tell by your post you'd want to know this......)

But if you look closely the depth of field isn't that deep. Really the only thing that's sharp is the upper half of his body. :)

Uh...and his right knee.

Actually I am impressed these days ... when I was a kid (I'm 40 btw) I just cound't see what all the hub-bub was with NASCAR ... I mean come on, they were not very fast and did in those days drive only in circles. Not really very impressive.

But in last decade or so? 200 miles per hour plus, bumper to bumper ... it might not be the same skills as an F-1 driver taking hairpin corners at 150, but that still takes some guts and real skill to pull off. You also must have to have a lot of faith in your fellow drivers... I sure as hell wouldn't want to have some guy tailgating me that speed!

Panning is always much harder than you think. You're right, it's damn sunny so the apature was probably (thinking sunny F/8 and drop two stops for the shutter speed) 11 or 16 to get a slow enough shutter speed for the background blur but it's still a bitch to pull off right. Not a straight pan either, he just went over a jump.

Yeah, twice a year, they turn RIGHT